Yushin Okami Moves On From Anderson Silva Up-kick; Dana White Proclaims Him Best Ever Out of Japan

At UFC 134: Rio, Yushin Okami isn’t going to look at the past and let it weigh on how he performs against Anderson Silva in Brazil.

The Japanese fighter has moved on from the disqualification win he collected from Silva at Rumble on the Rock in 2006, recognizing Silva’s illegal up-kick as an accident and nothing more. The focus now remains on his next fight, which is another clash with “The Spider,” only this time Silva holds the UFC middleweight title.

“I thought that was just an accident,” Okami said on Tuesday through an interpreter. “But this is (an) old story. So I’m not… talking about that much. So I’m focusing on my next fight.”

There seems to be more at stake this time around – obviously, since there’s a title involved. But some wonder if Okami truly deserves to be the No. 1 contender to Silva’s crown. Any doubt of that is quickly addressed by UFC president Dana White.

The brash executive holds Okami in the highest of regards. So high is White’s opinion of the fighter, he believes Okami is the greatest MMA talent ever to come out of Japan, citing that the level of talent the fighter has faced has been only the best for years.

“In my opinion, Yushin Okami is the best fighter to ever come out of Japan,” White said on Tuesday. “This guy didn’t come up fighting cans and get this built up mythological record. This guy has been fighting the absolute best for years and I’m sure he feels… (he) hasn’t got the credit he deserves.”

Whatever accidents happened between Silva and Okami in their first meeting will be dwarfed by the impact a win for the Japanese fighter will bring on the mixed martial arts universe. After all, Silva is the top pound-for-pound fighter on nearly everybody’s list, including White’s.

If Okami can handle business in Rio de Janeiro, he’ll get the respect of the entire MMA community. A win over the best grants one that privilege.

“Now, he’s going in against the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, probably the best fighter ever in mixed martial arts,” White exclaimed. “Not only if he wins this fight will he get the credit he deserves, he’ll have beat the best in the world.”

So, not only is Okami fighting for a championship, but also, whether he means to or not, the respect of those doubting his place at middleweight.

“In my opinion, Yushin Okami is the best fighter to ever come out of Japan,” White said on Tuesday. “This guy didn’t come up fighting cans and get this built up mythological record. This guy has been fighting the absolute best for years and I’m sure he feels… (he) hasn’t got the credit he deserves.”

LOL!!!!! Dana must have lost his mind.

First, I don’t know if Dana is calling Yushin the best japanese fighter ever or best fighter to come from a japanese circuit.

Best Japanese Fighters:
1) Kazushi Sakuraba
2) Shinya Aoki
3) Yushin Okami
So…Okami is clearly not the most successful japanese fighter.

Best fighter to go through a Japanese circuit:
1) Fedor
2) Shogun
3) Rampage
Okami is clearly not even in the top 10 of the fighters to go through the Japanese circuit.

“Chuck Liddel will win the Pride Middle Weight Grand Prix. He is one of the best middle weights in the world….” Dana White selling Liddel in Pride FC.

Cptmats

WONG AGAIN !

phrankthetank

I know you love to nuthug sakuraba, but the fact us he doesn’t hold a candle to okami. In addition, anyone who puts aoki over okami after getting destroyed by milendez and making a complete mockery of the sport against nagashima resulting in a much deserved ko is not someone who’s opinion is worth a damn.

wonggfan

Let’s just agree to disagree. All I am saying is that Yushin is not the only successful Japanese fighter. Saku, Aoki, and to some extent Gomi are the others.

phrankthetank

Fair enough. I never said that there aren’t other talented fighters from Japan, but it seems like you disagree with everything Dana white says just for the sake of it. Just because you don’t like the guy doesn’t mean he can’t be right sometimes.

vegaseric

You’re a weenie. Stop commenting

Cptmats

Yoshida !

wonggfan

Yoshida was a crowd favorite to fill a void that was left after Saku. But he was not as successful as Saku. I liked Yoshida but never took him that seriously. He was at best a top 10 guy.

Saku’s first asian opponent was Minowaman. He fought Royce, Vitor, Wandy, Igor, Rampage, and Randleman. No Japanese fighter has ever done that. In his Prime, after beating Royce and Vitor, Saku was considered #1 LHW in the world, if not in the top 3.

Cptmats

Saku was still fighting after Yoshida started and retired ! And Yoshida did far better against Wandy in both fights than Saku ever did ! He never fought long but was way more than just a top ten guy. He was an Olympic Gold medal Judoka with a strong Shotokan background !

wonggfan

Dude, you made it your life mission to troll against me huh?

Go ask any MMA fan who the most successful Japanese MMA fighter is. I agree. Prime Yoshida did better against Wandy than Saku.

Saku’s career died off after his second Wandy loss. He was the top fighter after he beat Randleman but from there on it went down until he fought Arona.

Yoshida’s popularity took off to fill Saku’s drop in performance.

natpaukar7

By no means in wonggfan wrong, I do not think that Okami is even much of a force from Japan, Sakuraba was to me the only one to have done well for a Japanese fighter, traditionally they just do not do as well. no hate for japan but it seems to me to be true…That having been said I am not well versed on Japanese fighters….

All of this having been said,,, it is all irrelevant because anderson silva…unless by some fluke or a setup which I doubt would happen, he will annihilate Okami without second thougth…Okami got beat, and easily IMO by Franklin…Silva killed destroyed embarassed Franklin 2x…where does Okami stand a chance in this fight…He won’t take Anderson down long enough 5 rounds… really? to do any damage enough to stop a fight…secondly…his jiu jitsu is far inferior to Anderson and his stand up is not mentionable…he is considered a powerful fighter? who has he KO’d? and I don’t mean that sarcastically…I really don’t know…I could wikipedia it easily but id like to hear some ideas or an opinion different than one that holds anderson as the easy victor

phrankthetank

Okami is always game, He’s got strong wrestling and good cardio, and silva showed his weakness to strong wrestling. Should okami win? No. Could he win? Absolutely.

clizzark

If Okami can somehow pull out a win over Silva and not like another DQ win, but a decisive win, then I’ll agree with Dana White. As of right now, his complete lack of giving any fighter outside of the UFC credit is just his usual bullshit.

http://www.twitter.com/uncanny390 uncanny390

I’ll say Okami is the best Japanese fighter still competing, and he has the best shot at beating Silva out of anyone the champ has faced in awhile due to his wrestling. But in the end, the odds are clearly with Silva winning again.

clizzark

Okami got dominated by Sonnen.

b-soc

Everyone, if I’m Dana White and I’m promoting a fight with Anderson Silva, perhaps the best of all time, I don’t care who he’s fighting, I’m going to promote him as the best from wherever!!!! Its called promoting!! Anderson’s next opponent will be the best from something else! Does anyone here really think that Brock Lesnar was that good! I don’t, but its all about promotion!!

wonggfan

Exactly what I was trying to say.

Dana is a promoter. Yes. Does that mean that he could say anything he wants without criticism from the fans? No.

As a promoter he has done some crazy shit. Some of the things he did are simply contradictory and some are disrespectful.

That is all I am saying.

Cptmats

And spitting out utter nonsense in the Process. Some of the shit you say is just stupid, “Yoshida’s popularity took off to fill Saku’s drop in performance.” Yoshida was way more popular than Saku. Saku was never anywhere near a top fighter in Pride, he was mearly famous for beating four gracie’s and because of his time as a pro wrestler in Japan . Yoshida is an Olympic gold medalist and a national hero in Japan.

“Dude, you made it your life mission to troll against me huh?”
No just to shut you up because you keep posting like everyone here is a noob and needs to be educated by you, except you have it all ass backwards 90% of the time